1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to ozone generating apparatus and more particularly to a novel apparatus for producing ozone especially for the elimination of odors in enclosed spaces.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Ozone generating apparatus has taken on many forms in the prior art. A patent search in the United States, for example, has revealed the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ 3,838,290 Crooks 9/24/74 3,865,733 Taylor 2/11/75 4,124,467 Pincon 11/7/78 4,156,652 Weist 5/29/79 ______________________________________
Generally these devices are different in structure and function, and result in comparison with the present invention. The present invention offers a durable, lightweight ozone generating apparatus with a novel construction which can economically deodorize an enclosed area.
In the parent application, cited and applied references included U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,775 issued to McNamara, U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,286 issued to Imris et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,788 issued to Wooten et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,044,700 issued to Small et al. None of the above patents teach the use of a soda-lime glass as does the present invention.
Applicant has found through experimentation that the glass in the glass tubes for his application should be soda lime glass. Other types of glass tubes will begin clouding soon after operation of the ozone generating device and thus reducing ozone output by about a factor of 4. The above references cited are generally for applications in which space limitations are not a problem. Typically, applicant has 4 mm diameter glass tubes and the rods within adjacent tubes are spaced 4 mm apart likewise. Relative to the references, applicant's apparatus has a much greater field intensity due to a smaller glass tube radius.
The above problem was not foreseen by McNamara. If any glass tubes were used other than soda lime glass, inoperability of applicant's apparatus would result. McNamara is silent with respect to soda lime glass as the dielectric, and it would not be obvious given McNamara to use this special type of glass.
Wooten et al., Imris, Lowther or Small et al., do not disclose soda lime glass as being critical to the operation of their respective apparatus, and it would not be obvious given either of these references above or in any combination to use soda lime glass.